{"id":166533,"date":"2025-10-02T10:03:10","date_gmt":"2025-10-02T10:03:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/israel-intercepts-aid-flotilla-bound-for-gaza-nbc-news\/"},"modified":"2025-10-02T10:03:10","modified_gmt":"2025-10-02T10:03:10","slug":"israel-intercepts-aid-flotilla-bound-for-gaza-nbc-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/israel-intercepts-aid-flotilla-bound-for-gaza-nbc-news\/","title":{"rendered":"Israel intercepts aid flotilla bound for Gaza – NBC News"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Israeli forces have intercepted an aid flotilla<\/a> bound for Gaza <\/a>that was being closely watched around the world, <\/strong>boarding boats and detaining activists including Greta Thunberg<\/a> who were seeking to break the blockade of the Palestinian enclave.
At least 21 of the vessels taking part in the Global Sumud Flotilla<\/a> had been intercepted by Israeli forces as of early Thursday morning, according to the flotilla’s online tracker, while another 19 were assumed to have been intercepted.
At least one of the vessels taking part in the flotilla, the Mikeno, appeared to reach just off Gaza\u2019s coast, according to the tracker \u2014 but it was not clear whether it too had been stopped by Israeli forces. As of Thursday morning, the tracker said it was still “sailing.”
In a video posted to X by the Israeli foreign ministry, Thunberg could be seen seated, wearing a keffiyeh and putting on her signature frog hat, with someone in military garb kneeling beside her.
Referring to the flotilla as the “Hamas-Sumud flotilla,” the foreign ministry said several vessels had been stopped, with those onboard being transferred to an Israeli port. “Greta and her friends are safe and healthy,” it said, adding in a later post that deportation procedures to Europe were expected to begin once passengers arrived in Israel.
Some 500 people have taken part in the Global Sumud Flotilla, seeking to deliver a symbolic aid package to the besieged enclave and send a message of resistance by breaking through Israel’s naval blockade of the territory.
Israel has maintained a land, air and sea blockade on Gaza since 2007, when Hamas <\/strong>seized power in the enclave.
The flotilla was intercepted <\/a>as Israeli forces continued their devastating assault on Gaza City<\/a>, where scores of people have been killed in recent days and hundreds of thousands have been displaced. Deaths from starvation have also continued to rise, according to Palestinian health officials.
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz on Wednesday said the military had completed seizing the Nitzarim corridor to Gaza\u2019s shoreline and was cutting the enclave \u201cin two from north to south.\u201d
He said this was the \u201clast opportunity\u201d for Palestinians in Gaza City to move south \u2014 and that those who remain will be considered \u201cterrorists and supporters of terror\u201d as Israeli forces carry out their assault at \u201cfull strength.\u201d
The world is awaiting a response from Hamas to the peace plan <\/a>unveiled by President Donald Trump <\/a>alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu <\/a>earlier this week.
With global outrage mounting over Israel’s assault on Gaza, the flotilla has been backed by sizable protests in the streets of European cities.
The fleet has been beset by a number of incidents<\/a>, including explosions, harassment by drones and jamming of communications, which activists say appeared to have been attempts to hinder the ships\u2019 movements<\/a>.
\u201cPrior to illegally boarding the ships, it appears as though the Israeli naval vessels<\/a> intentionally damaged ship communications, in an attempt to block distress signals and stop the live-stream of their illegal boat boarding,\u201d the press office for the flotilla said in a statement.
Greg Stoker, an American veteran aboard one of the boats, said around a dozen naval vessels with their transponders off had approached them while they were about 70 or 80 nautical miles from the Gaza coast.
\u201cThey are currently hailing our vessels, telling us to turn off our engines and await further instructions, or our boats will be seized and we will face the consequences,\u201d Stoker, wearing a red life jacket, said in a shaky video posted on Instagram<\/a>.
A video posted on a Telegram media account associated with the flotilla appears to show one of its ships being sprayed with water with an on-screen caption saying the vessel is being \u201cwater canoned.\u201d Another post on the Telegram channel said one of the ships had \u201cbeen deliberately rammed at sea.\u201d
Miriam Azem, the international advocacy coordinator for Adalah, the human rights organization and legal center helping represent the flotilla, said the “aggressive tactics” only add to the “illegality of this interception.”
“This interception, regardless of the way it was carried out, is unlawful. It\u2019s an abduction from the high seas, from international waters where Israel has no jurisdiction whatsoever,” she said in a phone interview Thursday.
The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea stipulates that a state has jurisdiction only up to 12 nautical miles from its shores. In general, states don\u2019t have the right to seize ships in international waters, though armed conflict is an exception<\/a>.
The Israel Defense Forces did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs had posted on X<\/a> that the only purpose of the flotilla was \u201cprovocation.\u201d
Israel launched its offensive in Gaza<\/a> after the Hamas-led attacks on Oct. 7, 2023, when 1,200 people were killed and around 250 were taken hostage, marking a major escalation in a decadeslong conflict.
In the nearly two years since, Palestinian health officials say, more than 66,000 people have been killed in Gaza<\/a>, including thousands of children, while much of the enclave has been reduced to rubble.
Babak Dehghanpisheh is an NBC News Digital international editor based in New York.
Chantal Da Silva reports on world news for NBC News Digital and is based in London.
© 2025 NBCUniversal Media, LLC<\/p>\n

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